A Minnesota teacher with 32 years in the classroom was struck by how easily Gemini could rewrite a text for a third- or fifth-grade reading level. She also pastes in short stories to get comprehension questions, asking specifically for the type she needs, such as questions about sequence.
Rewrite the text below so a [AGE]-year-old who reads at about [LEVEL OR SCHOOL YEAR] level can understand it. Keep all the important facts, use short sentences and explain any tricky words in brackets. Then write [NUMBER] [TYPE, E.G. SEQUENCE] comprehension questions with answers. Text: [PASTE TEXT].
Replace the [PLACEHOLDERS] with your own details before you send it.
How to try it
- Paste the article, story or worksheet into Gemini with the child’s age and reading level.
- Be specific about the kind of questions you want, as the teacher found that gave better results.
- Read the simplified version yourself to check nothing important has changed or gone missing.
More learning use cases
Photograph a confusing page in a book and get it explained with ChatGPT
A Hacker News user who still reads lots of print books takes a photo of the page whenever they hit unfamiliar notation and asks ChatGPT what's going on in that paragraph. They also use it to summarise a topic, drill into specifics and quiz them, as a kind of 'poor man's Anki' alongside their real flashcards.
Here's a photo of a page from a book I'm reading about [SUBJECT]. In [PARAGRAPH OR LINE], I don't understand [THE NOTATION / TERM / IDEA]. Explain it in plain English with a simple example, assuming I know [WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW]. Then ask me 3 quick questions, one at a time, to check I've got it.
Practise travel phrases before a trip with ChatGPT voice
A WIRED writer practised Japanese with ChatGPT's voice mode for a month before Tokyo, role-playing ordering food and small talk. By week three key phrases began to stick, and asking for more detailed feedback stopped it praising his mistakes.
Be a strict but friendly [LANGUAGE] tutor. I'm a beginner travelling to [CITY] in [WEEKS] weeks. Today, role-play [SCENARIO, E.G. ORDERING AT A RESTAURANT]. Correct my pronunciation honestly and don't tell me I did well unless I really did. End with the five phrases I should practise.
Make maths practice fun with personalised stories from Grok
A home-schooling parent whose son found reading and maths hard, but loved dragons and cats, asked Grok for adventure stories starring him that slipped in some maths. He kept asking for more, and afterwards they had Grok create a picture of each story's scenery.
Write a short adventure story for my [AGE]-year-old, [CHILD'S NAME], who loves [INTERESTS, E.G. DRAGONS AND CATS]. Weave in [NUMBER] maths questions about [TOPIC, E.G. ADDING UP TO 20] that the hero has to solve to carry on, plus a few real facts about [ANIMAL OR SUBJECT]. Keep the words easy enough for a [READING LEVEL] reader, and put the answers at the end for me.
Reference: Google Public Policy